Purdue University Student-Athlete Andrew Jackson Killed in Crash During Winter Storm

A freshman from Purdue University has died on the way to an ice hockey game, one of at least 11 deaths blamed on a winter storm that moved through the Midwest and into the Northeast.

According to university officials, who released details of the crash on their website, members of the Purdue Ice Hockey Club were on their way to a game at the Palmer Arena in Danville, Illinois at about 3:45 on Saturday. Officials from the university, in West Lafayette, Indiana, say a van some of the players were in, rolled over after sliding on an icy road near Wingate, Indiana.

According to the university, about 20 team members, two coaches and a manager left for the Arena, where they also practice, about 15 minutes before the crash. They were in three separate vehicles. The university says people in the vehicle behind the van that crashed did not see what happened, but came up on the scene a few minutes later, and saw that the van had rolled and was on its side about 10 feet from the highway.

Authorities identified the student who died as 18-year-old Andrew T. Jackson, a freshman from Chanhassen, Minnesota. According to the website, the team coach says Jackson played hockey "since he was a kid" and "lived and breathed hockey." Seven other players were injured, but a University spokeswoman says their injuries were not life threatening and all were released from the hospital.

That's not the only death blamed on the snowstorm that caused icy rain, snow and sleet in much of the Midwest, before moving to New York, New Jersey and New England.

According to the Detroit Free Press, besides the death in Indiana: the storm is also blamed for four traffic deaths in Michigan, three deaths in separate accidents in Wisconsin, and one each in, Illinois, North Dakota and Colorado.

The weather also caused a scary situation in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports, a jet slid off a runway at the Des Moines airport on Saturday, and the airport had to be closed for seven hours before the plane was removed. The paper says passengers were shaken but no one was seriously hurt.